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9800 GTX+ or 4850?
- Thread starter Brammo
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Soldato
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what is the rest of your system and what res will you be playing?
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your choice will depend on what motherboard you get (whethers its an intel chipset (so crossfire ready) for a nvidia chipset (SLI ready))
2 x 9800gtx+'s are meant to scale very well according to benchmarks and according to the benchi's a single 9800gtx+ is either the same or slightly better than the 4850, so expect the same to happen in dual cards.
why not buy 1 top end card though, like a gtx280 (you can get one for 260 quid now which is cheaper than 2 9800GTX+s) and that way you can get any motherboard
2 x 9800gtx+'s are meant to scale very well according to benchmarks and according to the benchi's a single 9800gtx+ is either the same or slightly better than the 4850, so expect the same to happen in dual cards.
why not buy 1 top end card though, like a gtx280 (you can get one for 260 quid now which is cheaper than 2 9800GTX+s) and that way you can get any motherboard
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For that res, either a single 4870 or a 4870x2.
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Well if your looking for the fastest single graphics card then its only the 4870x2 at the moment. A single 4870 handles everything fine at that res with 4xAA except from crappy crysis, so i don't see why you need two craphics cards right now.
But if you want a nvidia card then i would recommend waiting for the refresh of the gtx280.
But if you want a nvidia card then i would recommend waiting for the refresh of the gtx280.
Soldato
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yes, wait for the 55nm gtx200's. you might even be able to save some money with ra gtx 260?
Actually a GTX280 is a great card for 1920*1200 and is only a little slower then the much more expensive 4870X2 with 4xAA at this resolution, with prices as they are, £244(GTX280) vs £375(4870X2) it's really not a hard choice.
look compare this review
http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1475/7/four_radeon_hd_4850s_in_crossfirex/index.html
to this one
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/xfx_gtx280/10.htm
http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1475/7/four_radeon_hd_4850s_in_crossfirex/index.html
to this one
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/xfx_gtx280/10.htm
But uses crossfire, so the performance is inconsistent from game to game, also theres that microstutteriing thing which many claim doesn't exist.
It's up to you, you can have one card which provides consistent performance with no complications, or use two cards, which uses more power, generates more heat and will have varying results depending on the game.
Nope i'm just trying to explain the pros of each, 4850CF is a little cheaper so which you get comes down to you, for me theres enough complications to deal with without adding crossfire and sli to mix so I wouldn't touch either unless there really was no other option.
GTX280+ or whatever it's called should be out soonish, within the next few months maybe.
Lately i've had : 8800GTX, 9800GX2, GTX 260, GTX 280, 4870, and now 4870X2
The 280 and X2 will run any game maxed out with AA + AF on my 2560x1600 monitor (bar Crysis). They will easily cope with 1920x1200.
But for that res i'd go for a GTX 260 896MB, as 512MB will soon not be enough for that res - i'm always running out of memory on 512MB cards at 2560x1600, and can run into it @ 1920x1200 on a handful of games with crazy amounts of AA + AF. When you run out of memory things run seriously poor.
Plus the GTX 260 overclocks really well - see here. It will atleast match a 4870 if you clock it.
If you dont wonna overclock it, then for a bit more the 1GB 4870 would be good, or the 280 would be great. Whatever you do i'd really recommend not getting a card with only 512MB for a high res monitor, i'm talking from a lot of expericence here. I've also found games load quicker on cards with more than 512MB.
The 280 and X2 will run any game maxed out with AA + AF on my 2560x1600 monitor (bar Crysis). They will easily cope with 1920x1200.
But for that res i'd go for a GTX 260 896MB, as 512MB will soon not be enough for that res - i'm always running out of memory on 512MB cards at 2560x1600, and can run into it @ 1920x1200 on a handful of games with crazy amounts of AA + AF. When you run out of memory things run seriously poor.
Plus the GTX 260 overclocks really well - see here. It will atleast match a 4870 if you clock it.
If you dont wonna overclock it, then for a bit more the 1GB 4870 would be good, or the 280 would be great. Whatever you do i'd really recommend not getting a card with only 512MB for a high res monitor, i'm talking from a lot of expericence here. I've also found games load quicker on cards with more than 512MB.
Last edited:
Caporegime
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Id get a single 4870 for that resolution, its not much slower than the GTX 280 (only about 10%), and it also beats it in some at that res to with 4xAA, also its a lot cheaper, the GTX 280 just isn't worth the extra over it.
If you get the 280, then your going to pay about an extra £50+ for a slightly faster card, thats also slower in some as well, you may as well save that.
If you get the 280, then your going to pay about an extra £50+ for a slightly faster card, thats also slower in some as well, you may as well save that.